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Beneath the Surface Written by Leo_Todrius Supported by my Patrons [October 28th, 2066] [Ryukyu Trench - Depth: 18,525 feet]

The deep, dark, cold depths of the trench had been undisturbed for years, sitting too deep for light to reach. In some ways it was almost like outer space, but while the cosmos offered a vacuum devoid of life, the ocean was an ever evolving, living, breathing ecosystem. Microbes, plankton, fish and invertebrates, all of them surviving where it seemed no life could. They thrived in the faint currents, finding rocks and shoals to call home, and all of them were surprised as two beams of light pierced the perfect darkness.

A small submersible craft plunged downward, its cylindrical body capped by two spheres on either end. Four conical engines whirred behind as the ballast filled more, bringing the vehicle even lower. Inside the cockpit, screens showed warnings as they moved toward the depth limits. The pilot's seat was occupied by a young man, likely no more than twenty. He wore a crisp black uniform with a white collar, an emblem emblazoned on his left shoulder showing a golden trident guarding over a world of oceans.

Above his heart was a patch emblazoned with his name and rank; Lieutenant Caleb Reed. His light brown hair had been a little sun bleached on his last tour of duty, though he kept it well groomed. He had a strong nose and a handsome jaw, complemented by his sturdy shoulders. Caleb had always felt an affinity for the sea. Even when he was a teenager he'd volunteered as a lifeguard at the beach, and his proficiency had extended into actual service. He dreamed of serving aboard one of the UEO's Deep Submergence Vehicles, but for the moment he was content doing his duty - even if it meant spending hours with only one other person for company.

Sitting in the passenger seat was an even younger man, though it appeared he had taken a different course in life than Caleb. He wore a uniform similar to Caleb's, though the main material was a dark blue instead of black. His nametag only has the name, Max Farrow. As a civilian scientist, Max's reddish-brown hair was left shaggy and wavy. He had rust colored stubble along his jaw, though it had come in thicker in a mustache and soul patch. The limited light in the cockpit glinted off of a silver nose ring around his left nostril, and there was a faint hint of freckles across his nose and cheeks.

"Remind me again why we had to come all the way out here to this one?" Max asked without looking up from the interface he was working on.

"It's not going to be any different than the last time." Caleb chided. Max shook his head.

"The war with Macronesia was long and brutal. The peace treaty with the Chao Dai is barely a year old. Surely there has to be better things to do with our time." Max complained.

"It's because of the war that we have to be smart with our resources. It is a lot cheaper to retrofit an old facility than to build a new one. There are a lot of bases that were abandoned during the war that got overlooked by the Alliance. We just have to do our surveys and grab whatever data might be there. We've done this enough times, haven't we?" Caleb asked, adjusting the hydraulic controls.

"I think we've done this enough times, and there's never any adventure." Max replied. Caleb smirked.

"My grandparents had a favorite proverb. May your journey be free of adventure... It's a lot safer without it." Caleb replied as he checked the proximity sensors.

The launch slowed as it came around a rock outcropping, the lights shining to illuminate the manmade structure anchored to the walls of the ridge. It seemed most of the facility stretched back into the rock face itself, but a small disc shaped observation area jutted out into the ravine, along with the single tube like docking collar extending outward. The launch came to a stop before carefully sliding in, nudging snugly into the collar. There was the sound of metal on metal, then the docking clamps sealing.

Max set his interface down and moved back, checking the seal before he hit the button. A loud whirring came as the circular door opened into two portions, the lower moving faster with a higher pitch before the upper half lifted with a lower pitch whirring. The doors locked into place, though a curtain of seawater rained down from where it had been trapped when the seal was made. Max looked back to the cockpit.

"Seal's good." He reported.

"And clamps are in place." Caleb replied, securing the controls before he got up and grabbed his gear. Max moved through the airlock to the inner seal, checking his tablet. He scrolled through old command codes and entered it, receiving a harsh chirp and a flashing red light from the control interface.

"Well, the good news is that there's still power." Max said before trying lower and lower on the list. Caleb checked his pulse pistol before he pulled out his own flashlight. Max gave up on trying command codes by hand and plugged his tablet in. It started cycling through the database of old and discontinued codes until it finally chirped and the inner door began to open, rotating along a recessed track that ran into the wall. Max hesitated, his thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What is it? You got in." Caleb said. Max shook his head.

"Yeah, but with an old classified Section Seven code... What was this base rated as?" Max asked, looking up at Caleb. Caleb looked into the facility lit only by pale blue emergency lights.

"Marine Biology and Ecology research." Caleb replied, stepping into the facility. His flashlight chirped as it snapped to full brightness. Max tucked his interface device into his pocket and followed after, his brown eyes peering around in curiosity.

Max thought about their previous assignments. The two of them had been to more than a half dozen abandoned facilities. Some dated back to the mid twenty-twenties. The variety and irregularity of them all had been astonishing. Some were so rustic that they seemed like old power plants with pipes and conduits and cables running everywhere. Others were sleek and utopian, designed with long term habitation in mind. This base, however, reminded Caleb of something else entirely.

The metal grated floors hid the utilities running underneath while the hexagonal tunnels connecting each section boasted technology that had, at one point, been state of the art. The observation room was spacious, looking out over the rift. It was filled with comfortable chairs and couches, even a pool table.

Caleb turned and moved down another hall, heading deeper into the facility when he froze, realizing his flashlight was passing through something more than just glass. He lifted it up to illuminate the wall of the tunnel. The entire length was lined with glass windows showcasing a smaller tunnel filled with water. Caleb stood there, almost transfixed. Max scrunched up his brow again in confusion.

"Why do they need to see their water supply?" he asked. Caleb shook his head but actually started to grin.

"That's not their water supply, that's an aqua-tunnel... A hydro-pressure system. They're part of every colony's water reclamation, but when they were first invented they were used to give marine life access to all parts of a submarine." Caleb said, "That's really neat."

"They just let the creatures swim around wherever they want?" Max asked in doubt.

"Why not? We get to explore their world." Caleb said before he resumed his course, heading deeper into the base. Max lingered a moment longer before he followed after.

**** Room by room, Caleb and Max secured the facility as best they could. It seemed that the aqua-tunnels had allowed them to research the wild life without taking up a large profile in the trench, and their depth had kept them hidden during the war. Even the evacuation had seemingly been an orderly one. There were no overturned tables, no torn open cabinets. Things were neat and orderly. Max bypassed the lockout on quarters and the door hissed open. He swept his flashlight across the room. The bed was made, the hamper had clothes in it, there were even a few dishes sitting on the desk.

"It doesn't feel like the people left, it feels like they just disappeared." Max said softly.

"Well, when the evac order came, maybe they prioritized their work. Clothes can be replaced." Caleb said, coming to a thicker door. He clipped his flashlight to his belt and started to turn the latch in the center. A heavy thunk sounded as the latch unlocked. Max closed the room he had been looking at and helped Caleb with the door.

As it opened, they were met with a different smell. The air in the facility had, until that point, been mildly stale. The new smell was briny, moist, aquatic. Caleb steeled himself a bit before he stepped down the four metal steps, descending down into the marine lab. Like the rest of the base, the marine lab had blue emergency lights as well - though these were under the surface of the pool that dominated the right half of the lab. The light filtered up through the surface, rippling and shimmering across the walls and ceiling in a vast ever-changing marbleized pattern.

"Now here's something I can use!" Max said, moving over to a computer terminal nestled between two huge tanks of liquid. The young scientist pulled out his interface device and connected it, supplying the terminal with power and a data-line. The screen flickered for a moment before it snapped on, displaying the emblem of the United Earth Oceans organization - and then promptly after a Section Seven security lockout. Max's back arched a little.

"What is it?" Caleb asked, shining the flashlight over onto his compatriot.

"I have to be careful how I do this. It won't work just like the door; I can't keep trying every password until something works. I have a limited number of tries or it'll wipe the database." Max replied. Caleb shone the light lower, examining the terminal.

"And it's fully integrated, it's not like we can pop it out for them to decode back at New Pearl." Caleb replied, "How many tries do you get?" At that question, Max smiled.

"The good old three strikes rule." Max said. Caleb nodded at that.

"Alright then. Do what you think is best, but if you get to two, let me know." Caleb said, turning to move back the way he had come. Max looked up at that.

"Where are you going?" He asked curiously.

"I'm going to try and get the main power back on. I'm getting tired of emergency lights." Caleb said. He grabbed onto the guard rail but felt something cool and slick on his hand. He winced and pulled his hand back, bringing with it a long trail of almost phosphorescent green slime. Caleb grunted and flicked his hand, trying to get the excess slime off before, reluctantly, he wiped it on his uniform. With a glance back to see if Max had seen him, he was relieved that his partner was too absorbed in the computer. Caleb moved up the steps more carefully, avoiding the guard rail this time.

**** The latch to the door clicked as it was rotated, then the door eased open. Caleb brought his pulse pistol up, eyes scanning the room beyond. He had trained to be part of an elite team, to be an integral part of a complex operation... but his record of success had resulted in him being selected to take on missions alone. It was a different beast, but he was slowly getting used to it. If anything, securing the facility made him feel a little more useful while Max was busy.

Caleb moved through the corridor to another room and opened another door before pressing in. His finger was resting on the trigger of his pulse pistol, ready for anything. As the lights flickered and came on, it seemed that the worst thing Caleb had to fear were leftovers. The galley looked as though it had been ransacked, the first time part of the base had shown any signs of distress. Containers had been ripped open, jars smashed, but there was very little evidence of food or even of rot.

It would have been easy to let his guard down, but Caleb had been trained better than that. He moved over to the refrigeration unit and slid it open carefully, finding nothing left but a few wrappers. He exhaled slowly, his breath turning to mist in the cooler. He closed his eyes for a moment and let the cool air wash over him. He hadn't realized how hot he'd been feeling, but it was apparent now. Sweat soaked the collar of his undershirt, his hair was glistening.

As hot as he felt, though, Caleb was starting to feel hungrier. His stomach rumbled as he thought about just what the researchers had eaten. They would have had ration packs, of course, but with ample access to fish, maybe they were able to catch some fresh. Caleb's eyes fluttered shut as he thought about how good some fresh sushi would have tasted. He ran his tongue over his teeth, wincing a bit as the tongue caught a sharp corner of a tooth.

With no food to find and no other way in, Caleb considered the galley to be secure. He turned and moved out of the room, his stomach still rumbling. As he left, he wiped sweat from his brow and flicked it off to the floor below. Maybe it would have been a good idea to find the atmospheric systems and make sure they were operating correctly. Caleb kept the pulse pistol ready with his right hand, though the fingers of his left rubbed back and forth together, the hand glistening with more than just sweat.

**** Max normally felt comfortable and content working near aquatic labs. After all, being part of the United Earth Oceans organization brought with it that expectation... but nothing about the Ryukyu base was expected. At first, Max had thought that the base had been abandoned during the Macronesian war, but the docking collar access logs showed no unusual activity when the base was in use, and then it simply stopped. The atmospheric support systems registered irregular usage over the last few years, though that could have just been faulty systems. Something about it just didn't feel right, and the computer core wasn't being helpful either.

A gentle sigh escaped Max's lips as he looked at the encrypted data on the screen in a graphical format. Section Seven had done a phenomenal job to lock everything up tight, but maybe there was something they missed, something that could help Max start to crack the ice. After a moment of consideration, he decided to come at it another angle. It was too easy to encrypt text, but it had always been a bit harder to lock away other formats.

The scientist's fingers flew over the keyboard as he started targeting anything that might have been video, audio, or any other exotic codec. His tool chugged away, churning and working until it locked onto something. It took almost a minute, but the ciphers worked and the file was decrypted. Max jumped when a whirring came from the ceiling, but he looked up and realized what it was.

A round, squat cylindrical mechanism lowered a foot or two from the ceiling before locking into place. A flap running across the diameter opened up and a very fine, very even curtain of water vapor began to fall from it, drifting down into a receptacle down below. A matrix of light projectors snapped on, casting light into the vapor until a three dimensional image appeared - the hologram of one of the base's lead researchers.

The man depicted was tall, broad shouldered but narrow wasted. His skin was a rich caramel brown, his black hair pulled back into a long ponytail. The researcher wore one of the older UEO uniforms, a navy blue material with ribbed panels, though he had on a white jacket over it. He stood with a confident posture, his face set in a neutral expression, a bit of stubble accenting the angle of his jaw. There was a moment's pause, as if waiting for everyone to focus in on him before he began to speak.

"Secretary General, Admirals... I thank you for this opportunity to discuss with you not only the accomplishments of my team, but precisely how we arrived at this nexus of human achievement." The researcher began. Max's eyebrow arched a bit.

"Smug, isn't he?" Max muttered to himself, watching the hologram continue.

"The ocean has always reached out to us, beckoning us with its siren song. For centuries mankind has sailed the seas of this world, exploring and living, forging the infancy of a symbiotic relationship with our planet. When we began to colonize the oceans and live within it, vast confederations were formed and brought together under the UEO to allow for a peaceful, profitable life... but there were always those that dreamed a little bigger." The researcher said.

Max slowly crossed his arms. As smug as the scientist seemed, he wasn't completely terrible when it came to presentation. The hologram of the researcher faded away, replaced with the image of another man. It was an old photograph of a man Max didn't recognize, though he had little doubt that the speaker would address the issue.

"Over forty years ago, a scientist named Franklin Wise began the journey by creating artificial gills and osmotic treatment to allow humans to live as much in the ocean as around it. A few years later, the UEO had its hand in experimenting further, using volunteers to test upgraded gills... But still, these advances were still artificial. It would take a daring risk, a brave breakthrough, and a keen mind to take these advancements to the next level." The researcher said with a grin, though Max was hardly smiling. His mind spun fast as he started following the breadcrumbs.

"Sector Seven... Oh god... What did you do?" Max whispered to himself.

"With the generous access granted by the Security Council, we were able to turn the pages back to the dark age of genetics, to take our shameful past with the Daggers and apply what we learned to make a brighter future. If our future really exists beneath the surface of our oceans, we cannot simply tack on pieces like we were a tricked out car. We must truly be a part of the biome. My team has finally cracked the code. We have found a way to augment our DNA with the genetic codes of our aquatic brethren, to bring the best qualities they have to offer to those bold enough to take the plunge. Rest assured, you won't believe what I have to show you."

The last thing Max saw of the researcher was his smug smile before the hologram snapped off, the water vapor stopped falling and the holographic projector ascended back up into the ceiling. Max stood there feeling utterly lost, frozen in fear. This went a far way above his pay grade. It had been years since the researchers did their thing, but what they did had been an illegal act approved by the UEO. Had they been using the research to enable spies to sneak into Macronesian waters? Had it been a dubious scientist taking advantage of troubled times to test the ethical limits? Was it something that still went on?

Max took a deep breath and transferred the decrypted file to his interface device. With the initial link formed, he'd be able to work on some of the data remotely and leave the lab behind. Max clipped the interface to his waist, feeling the weight of the situation on his shoulders. He had to talk to Caleb, he had to tell him what he found. He only prayed that he wouldn't want to cover it up or keep it classified. Max wasn't sure what had happened to the research team at Ryukyu base, but the possibilities were far stranger and far more frightening than he had ever anticipated.

**** The door to the base gym swung open as Caleb stumbled in. He was panting through his open mouth, his skin covered in sweat, his hair soaked and stringy. The lieutenant made it a few more steps, standing in front of the mirror, looking up at himself almost in disbelief. Each breath felt like an effort, his body broiling. He looked pale and clammy, his skin almost rubbery. Caleb reached up and grabbed onto his uniform, tearing at it, the zipper popping off the track as he tore the jacket open.

The black jacket was thrown to the floor and Caleb tore at his under-shirt next, the fabric splitting out across his back. He peeled it from his arms and tossed it. He looked back up at his reflection, feeling something else. There was no denying that he felt feverish and sick, but he also felt an odd sense of pride. Even with clammy skin, he was looking shredded. His abdominals glistened, his pecs looked like meaty globes of powerful muscle, and his arms were bulkier than they had ever been.

A strange, drunken grin crossed Caleb's lips as he flexed an arm. Watching his biceps and triceps bulge out sent an almost electric thrill through him. Caleb flexed again and again, showing off his muscles. A bulge formed in his pants, blood rushing into his cock as it pushed out longer and thicker. He gritted his teeth, feeling a pressure in his jaw. Caleb looked at his reflection, watching his eyes as they got more and more dilated, the black glassy center taking up more and more space.

Caleb couldn't help but grin - not just because of how good he felt, but because his jaw was aching. The bone felt hot and tight, then slowly his lower jaw began to push forward. Caleb slowly opened his mouth and he could see that his gums were inflamed in front of his teeth. Little bumps were forming all around his jaw. He reached up to touch his face, but as he moved he winced, feeling a sharp burning on the sides of his neck. Caleb reached to touch the skin, but as his fingers touched the flesh it felt gooey and slick, the pain intensifying from several papercut like slits in the skin.

Caleb leaned closer to the mirror and went to take a breath, but the slits flared, revealing the ribbed pink flesh inside. The shock sent his heart racing and the burning spread through his entire body. Caleb slammed his hand against the mirror to hold himself up, doubling over, grunting and growling as he felt his muscles growing larger, his lower jaw pushing forward, and pressure building beneath the skin of his elbows and the back of his head. When he finally looked back up, his eyes were solid black. He parted his lips and let out a roar as a second row of teeth burst through his gums, coming in sharp and jagged.

**** Max's shoes reverberated against the deck plating as he moved through the base, trying to figure out just where Caleb had gotten to. With the two of them there, the air seemed hotter and more humid. The circulators still weren't working that well. He came around the corner and paused, noticing the door to the gym was left ajar. Max's face scrunched up in confusion. It was standard operating procedure to close all hatches and doors when securing.

"Caleb?" Max called out, moving past the gym and toward the galley, "Caleb, are you in A-Block?" he asked. Max sighed before he pulled an orange and black Personal Audio Link from his belt. He clicked the talk button, "Caleb, I-" Max hesitated, hearing an echo of his own voice coming from the gym. A strange sense of dread filled the scientist as he turned, taking a few steps back the way he had come.

Testing his theory, Max clicked the talk button on his PAL. Sure enough, he could hear the click and static from the room ahead. Max pushed the door to the gym open slowly and peered inside. There were exercise bikes, treadmills, pull up bars and weights, everything someone would need to stay fit when they were isolated at the bottom of the ocean for months at a time. As Max scanned the room, he also saw the torn remnants of a UEO officer's uniform.

Max spun on his feet to run back toward the launch, but he only made it a step before he realized his path was blocked. A huge, bulky figure stood in the archway between the gym and the common room. Caleb's hair had fallen out, leaving his scalp bare. He had added on almost two hundred pounds of mass in a short time, but Max could still tell it was him... Caleb's face had pushed out into a blunted, boxy muzzle. Rubbery protrusions had pushed out of his elbows, and as he stood there, the light coming from the common room was passing through thin webs of flesh connecting his fingers.

"Caleb?" Max whispered in fear. A grin crossed Caleb's muzzle, revealing his double row of teeth. They looked quite menacing paired with his glassy black eyes.

"Max, this is amazing. I never knew I could feel this good... I never knew I had this power just beneath the surface, waiting to come out." Caleb said. His muscles rippled as he took a step forward into the light, and as he did it became clear how much color he had lost. From his chin down his throat and across his stomach, his flesh was almost perfectly white. The flesh on his shoulders, back and face had taken on a richer, darker bluish grey. Caleb grunted a little, panting more.

Before Max's eyes, he watched as a crested ridge pushed out of the back of Caleb's skull, extruding inch by inch as new cartilage formed beneath his tough, rubbery skin. He was almost twice as wide as Max now, but his body was far from done. Max hadn't seen it at first, so distracted by Caleb's metamorphosis, but he had a thickening mass growing out behind him, anchored just above his meaty ass cheeks. The flesh tapered down as it descended, though it was clear that it was trying to form a tail of some sort.

"Caleb, something's happened here. We need to get you help. This isn't natural." Max said, taking a step back. Caleb shook his head.

"It's the most natural thing I've ever felt. This... This is how we should be, this is how the UEO should have approached colonization. Max, you'll never feel afraid again. Just be with me." Caleb whispered, "I know that's what you've always wanted. I've seen the way you look at me, and as soon as we get shore leave you still want to hang around. If you join me, we'll never have to be apart again." Caleb said.

"I... I can't do that, Caleb. I've got a family. You've got a family!" Max said.

"We have a new family now, and I want you to be part of it." Caleb said before he lunged. Max ducked out of the way of Caleb's beefy arms by instinct, narrowly missing. He skidded before his shoes got purchase in the metal grate and he pushed off. Caleb snarled, bearing his double set of teeth as he sprung ahead of Max to block his escape path. Max doubled back, grabbing onto the corner of the wall to spring back towards the lab.

For every three steps Max took, Caleb took one. The deck plating rattled with the impacts of his huge webbed feet. Thick cords of muscle ran up from Caleb's collar bone to his gills. His tail descended down behind him, swaying as he ran. His face pushed out as his muzzle grew larger and wider. Max pushed off a landing, dropping down in front of the door to the aquatics lab. He turned the latch with all his might, opened the door just enough to squeeze in and shut it behind him. He got the latch turned just as the entire wall shuddered from the impact of Caleb's body.

Max felt like his heart was going to explode as he backed up, looking at the small crescent shaped window above the latch. For a moment the view was empty, but then Caleb's mutated head appeared in the view, the exhalation from the nostril slits in his muscle leaving blasts of steam on the glass. Max shook from the exchange, but he knew he couldn't wait there forever. He had to take action, he had to get help. Max reached for his PAL but his fingers found nothing in the slot on his belt.

"Fuck... It must have fallen during the fight." Max whimpered, looking back at the door. He needed a plan, but more than that, he needed answers. Max crossed the short distance back down to the computer core, checking on the progress of the decryption. It was hard to pick where to start, but the holographic files seemed the most intriguing. Selecting one at random, Max opened one of the files.

The ceiling whirred as the projector descended from its slot and the curtain of vapor began to fall once more. The lead researcher appeared, though he looked worse for wear. His hair was thin, his skin was blotched and his eyes were dark, nearly entirely black. He had been hunched over something when he made the recording, quite possibly the computer core itself.

"Our containment anomaly last week... has resulted in the most amazing discoveries. In a few short days we learned more than we would have in years of playing it safe. It demonstrated that every part of our program worked, from the hybridization of the gene samples to the delivery method, everything. The breach was unfortunate, but our results were not... and yet the Secretary General was blind to the possibilities. An Abundance of caution! Independent verification!" The researcher slammed a webbed fist against the computer before continuing.

"I can't give up. Not now, not when we're so close... Willow was the farthest along, getting the biggest dose of the reagent. She's survived twenty hours in the aqua tunnels." He said, a sad smile crossing his lips, "The UEO's ordered us to leave the base, but we're not going back. Not on land. Not to our pathetic lives. We're going to finish what we started." The researcher said, looking up before the hologram snapped off.

The mist stopped falling, the slot closing on the emitter. Max was left looking at where the hologram had been, realizing that the scientists turned into the same monsters Caleb had become - worse, they had done it on purpose... but they had also taken detailed records. Max felt like his fear and panic cleared just enough for his brain to start working again. He made sure he'd backed up every file he'd decrypted before he opened the computer console, ready to make an entry of his own.

**** Caleb had paced back and forth through the base, trying to find any other entry into the aquatics lab. It had seemed impenetrable at first, only accessible by one reinforced door with maglocks on every corner... but that was thinking in the old way. Caleb felt like a fool that it had taken him so long to realize that the aqua tunnels connected directly to the lab. He'd traced them toward the hydroponics lab, figuring there had to be an access point there too. He had made it almost all the way when he felt a faint vibration in the deck plating beneath his feet.

"Caleb, I know you're out there, and I want to help you, I want to talk." Max's voice echoed down the hallway. Caleb turned slowly, facing back toward the aquatic lab. If he was careful, he could keep him from shutting the door again. Max didn't hold a candle to his strength, at least not as a human. Caleb nearly salivated as he imagined how impressive Max would be in his new body.

"All I want to do is talk, too." Caleb called back, though he had turned his head to throw his voice back toward the gym.

"We've worked together so long, side by side. I... I guess I was just shocked. You're so different now." Max commented. Caleb shook his head, creeping toward the door.

"There's nothing to be shocked about, only in awe of. I feel so alive, I feel amazing, and you will too. I think I know how to do it now." Caleb grinned, "It'll be so easy."

"I still remember when I first got assigned to you. I was a little pipsqueak geek and you were on the path to your own command. I thought you had to hate me, thought it was babysitting." There was a sad mirth to Max's voice. Caleb shook his head.

"None of that matters now. You and me, we'll be the same. Apex predators. The sea will be our home." Caleb said, reaching the door to the aquatics lab.

"I guess I just wanted to think we could still go back to those times, that you were still the same man I was proud to call my teammate." Max continued on. Caleb turned to fill the doorway, blocking off the only means of escape. His eyes locked in on Max, though something wasn't right... his shape fluttered slightly. Caleb's eyes widened as he started to snarl. The voice wasn't coming from Max, it was coming from a hologram of him. Caleb turned, his tail flicking out behind him, his fins on full display as he bore his sharp teeth. Somewhere near the galley he heard the stamping of feet on the deck plates.

Caleb stormed after Max, charging with full strength, moving with powerful strides. He had been augmented with the genes of a shark, but he was still a fearsome predator in the air as well. Caleb closed the distance, spotting Max heading for the launch, peeling across the common room. He timed it as best he could and jumped, coming down behind Max, grabbing onto his legs. Max toppled forward onto the ground, landing with a thud, but the fight was far from over.

Using every ounce of adrenaline in his body, Max rolled over onto his back and kicked Caleb's big beefy shark muzzle. After three kicks, Caleb was stunned enough that he lost his grip. Max clambered up to his feet and ran towards the launch, but he knew that Caleb would just catch up again. He looked around and then up, spotting the oxygen pipes running across the ceiling, connecting to the airlock junction box.

With a short jump, Max grabbed onto one of the pipes, swinging his legs to get enough momentum. As he swung back, his feet connected with Caleb's thick chest. Caleb stumbled back and toppled over on the floor again, giving Max enough time to pull the latch outside the airlock. The Launch's doors began whirring as they began opening, but Max was in no mood to wait. He grabbed into the edge of the lower door and pulled himself up through the gap to the other side, rolling over and springing up to pull the inner latch.

The doors hesitated before they began to reverse, going the other direction. Max was panting hard, his heart racing - but that was nothing compared to the shock his system got as a grey webbed hand slid through the gap between the doors. Max screamed out and kicked at the hand, knocking it free before the doors to the launch shut. Max slammed his hand down on the locking mechanism to secure it before he turned and ran to the cockpit.

His feet clattered on the deck plating as he came down into the seat, his finger flying over the controls to turn on the system. The engine whirred, the launch's hydraulics whining as they primed. It was a race against time, against skill, against talent. Whatever was left of Caleb was rational enough to bypass the airlock hatch given enough time, and Max couldn't afford to give it to him. Max tried the docking collar release, but a chirp warned him that the safety was engaged.

In a moment of dread, the resolution crystallized in Max's mind. He wouldn't be able to just passively abandon Caleb. He would have to take direct action that would most likely result in ending his life. Max steeled his nerves, focused on the task at hand, and began throwing the throttle forward. The engines at the back of the launch began to push, applying force and torque on the docking collar.

As the power increased, the launch began to shudder and shimmy. The deck plates rattled and the hull groaned. Somewhere back in the cabin there was an alarm going off that an outer panel had been accessed. Caleb was sill trying to get in. Max pushed the throttle up more. The clattering inside the craft increased, as did the groaning. Max could hear a tapping inside the control box for the airlock as well. Caleb was so close.

Max winced and grabbed onto the throttle controls, adding in bursts of reverse force. The launch started to rock back and forth, shaking, shimmying. The groaning grew louder and louder, but there was a new sound as well, almost like small explosions. It was the sound of decompressions around the docking collar outside. Max held his breath, more in superstition than any practical reason, and then gave as much forward momentum as the launch could manage.

The launch shook violently as it broke free. The lights flickered, alarms sounded, but worse, the craft lurched out into the rift like a bucking bronco. Max felt his center of gravity shift as the launch rolled to the right, weighed down by the remaining docking clamps from the collar. Max pulled to port and pumped out a portion of the water in the starboard ballast, compensating some for the awkward weight.

Max held onto the controls with both hands, fighting the stick. The current running through the rift was stronger than when they had come in and power systems were failing from the damage of ripping free from the base. Max angled up as best he could, rising toward the surface. He only left go of the controls long enough to blow the ballasts completely before grabbing on again. The launch started to roll to the right, though more of the collar had broken free, sinking back down toward the rift.

Little by little, the water was getting brighter and the water pressure was dropping. The current eased up as he climbed and the launch wasn't having to fight so hard just to keep going. Max swallowed a little, finally forcing himself to breathe again. He held onto the controls so tight that his knuckles were turning white, but he reached out to turn on the radio.

"Attention all UEO vessels. This is MR-19, requesting immediate assistance. My vessel is damaged. I am attempting to surface the vessel, but I may not make it. My coordinates are... Twenty six degrees, nineteen minutes, fifty two seconds by One Twenty Eight degrees, thirty nine minutes, sixty seconds. Depth Fourteen thousand, four hundred feet and climbing. Repeat, requesting immediate assistance." Max announced, letting go of the transmitter. The speakers crackled and fizzled when he let go.

Worried eyes looked over to the damage control screen. The radio transmitter had been on the starboard side with the docking collar. When he tore free, he had clearly done some damage, but was it just to receiver, or to the whole box? Had anyone even heard his call? Max exhaled and focused again on getting the launch to the surface. He'd be able to make it most of the way, but if the engines gave out and if he had damaged outer compartments, the vessel might start sinking all over again. Max held on tight, looking up toward the surface, watching it get gradually brighter and brighter, little by little and not nearly fast enough.

**** Far off shore, in the great expanse that was the Pacific Ocean, the water bobbed and dipped in placid waves undisturbed by much other than the push and pull of the distant moon. It had been calm for hours, but it slowly began to ripple as something rushed upwards, rising quickly and displacing the water ahead of it. The launch breached the surface, rising up at a sharp angle before it came crashing down, sending out more waves in every direction.

The lights on the outer hull flickered and went dead, the craft bobbing at a forty five degree angle with one tread sticking entirely out of the water. There was a moment's pause before a panel exploded off of the top of the launch and a pentagonal raft erupted from confinement, inflating to its full size in seconds as it landed in the water, tethered to the vehicle by a cable. On the side of the craft, a beacon started to flash, broadcasting a distress signal. Its range was limited compared to the radio, but it was an independent sub-system.

Inside the cockpit, the launch had gone silent. The engines were dead, the power cells had been depleted and apparently what fuel hadn't been consumed in the climb to the surface had leaked out through a small rupture... but none of that mattered, not to Max. He sat in the pilot's seat, his eyes shut. Even through his eyelids he could see a glimmering glow, the light of day. Slowly he opened his eyes and looked out.

Blue sky, faint wisps of clouds in the distance. He had climbed over eighteen thousand feet and made it to the surface. It felt comforting to be so far away from the Ryukyu base and the dark secrets it held, but Max knew he'd never be fully free of that place. He had killed whatever Caleb had become. That was something he would have to live with, assuming that he would live.

"First things first, survival..." Max said to himself, forcing himself to get up - a task made more difficult with the slope of the ship leaning over to one side. Considering the likelihood that he would get wet while effecting repairs or pulling out the solar collectors, he pulled his computer interface from his belt and set it down on the passenger seat. Making his way to the back of the launch proved to be a little precarious, but Max held himself upright by grabbing onto bulkheads, panel covers and even the upholstery of the seats in the main cabin.

He had been trained on what to do in an emergency, everyone that worked for the UEO had, but putting training into practice when it had been so long was another thing. Max made it to the back of the launch and pulled the cover off the panel next to the air cyclers. Thankfully there was a checklist on the panel cover. He sighed with relief, reading across the sticker. He'd have to start with the solar receiver and a signal flag to make it easier to spot the launch.

Max looked down at the airlock doors. The tiny round window in the center showed the cool dark blue of the ocean water beneath the vessel. He wouldn't be able to get out that way, but he remembered that in the event of an emergency ascent, the survival raft was designed to launch automatically and a hatch in the ceiling would then be accessible. He looked up - and then slightly to the side. At least the launch tilting made it easier to get to the hatch. With some effort, Max pulled the pack holding the signal flag out and slid it over his shoulder before grabbing one of the four rectangular black solar arrays before his brow scrunched.

"How are you supposed to climb out of the ceiling and carry this?" Max muttered to himself before he tried to squeeze the solar array into the flag pack. He managed to wedge it in enough that it didn't seem like it would slide. Max ran his fingers through his rusty red hair before he angled himself and jumped, catching onto the hand hold next to the ceiling hatch. He swatted at the hatch with his other hand before he managed to start turning it. It didn't want to budge at first, but after a few grunts and trying harder, it finally released.

With one more swing, Max hit the hatch and it swung open. Sunlight spilled in through the hole, coming with the salty scent of the ocean and the steady lapping of water against the launch's hull. Max dropped back down to the floor of the cabin and panted, reclaiming some of his strength before he jumped again, grabbing onto both hand holds. He struggled and strained, using every muscle in his body to pull himself up, then push. He wedged himself against the rim of the hatch before he changed his hand holds and pulled himself up to the surface of the ship.

He wriggled around and sat himself down, panting softly, looking out at the ocean around him, taking it in for a moment until he realized that there was a shadow across his right arm. There wasn't anything on the launch tall enough to cast a shadow. Max turned to see a figure silhouetted by the setting sun, a tall and strong figure, a figure with webbed hands and slick skin the color of slate.

Caleb had been wounded in the ascent, blotchy purple bruises marring his ribs and his shoulder, a cut across his chest. No doubt the rapid change of pressure had left him weak, but he had clung onto the launch all the same, hunting his prey. Max met eyes with Caleb, looking into the black glassy orbs. The two were frozen there in an instant until Max finally tried to move. The moment one of his muscles flexed, Caleb lunged.

The two toppled off the side of the launch, crashing into the water. Suddenly all Max knew was the cold briny embrace of the ocean waters and the clamber of the body against him. Max struggled, trying to break free. Caleb tore the pack from Max's shoulder, grabbing onto him, their bodies bashing and crashing together. Bubbles escaped from Max's lips, he felt the hot, stinging throbbing of running out of air - and then he felt a far more distinct pain as two rows of sharp, jagged teeth pierced into his shoulder, digging into the flesh.

Caleb had latched on, biting his prey... but it wasn't to eat. It was instinctive, a drive, a necessary way to start the process. Max's blood tasted amazing in his mouth, invigorating him, making him feel alive and powerful. Caleb shuddered, kicking his legs, adjusting one arm, driving them deeper still. Whatever had happened in the base, Caleb was in his element now. His body weight pulled them down. His numerous fins gave him control. His body glistened in the fading light filtering down through the water.

Max struggled, feeling the pressure building in his lungs as the oxygen was replaced by carbon dioxide. He wriggled and shifted, trying to break free, but Caleb had other plants. His fingers grabbed onto Max's uniform, tearing the blue fabric from him. He pulled at the shirt next, then the pants. Bubbles escaped Max's lips as he was yanked back and forth. Unable to fight instinct, he drew in a lung full of seawater - though strangely it didn't hurt. If anything, Max felt dizzy, hot, lost.

Caleb grinned, feeling the fight leaving his prey. He pulled Max tighter against him, holding their bodies close. Max felt Caleb's big, thick chest on his, felt the ridges of his refined abdominal muscles, and he felt a very full and very ample cock against his. Max blushed despite the condition he was in. He'd fantasized about Caleb's cock a few times, but now... now he felt it against his, skin to skin.

The shark beast's cock was rock hard for the most part, though it felt strangely pliable to Caleb. He had started to hump and grind against Max, but as he did, he felt the human's cock rubbing along a strange groove on his shaft. Caleb kept going, working harder, pressing against Max until the groove deepened, his cock throbbed, and then it began to split in two. Caleb was shocked, almost as much as Max was, but the changes had been taking place for hours. His urethra had divided, the cells had divided at an incredible rate, and Caleb was the proud owner of a hemipenis.

The shark beast's mouth split into a grin of double sets of teeth as he started humping Max with two fully functional shark dicks, but even that wasn't enough. He needed to mate, he needed to help Max along, he needed more. Webbed hands grabbed onto Max and spun him around. Max shivered as he felt the twin cocks rubbing between his ass cheeks. In a strange way, it was what he had always wanted. Caleb had been so strong, so confident, sexy without trying. Now he was so much more...

The listless malaise of Max's condition was fading as he drew in more sea water and expelled it. It wasn't comfortable, it was barely tolerable, but for some reason he didn't feel like he was drowning. His neck started to burn, stinging especially strong along several slits in the flesh. The skin parted, the sensitive tissue beneath was exposed and his gills began to process water to give him the oxygen he so desperately needed.

As his gills started working, Max could feel the fight coming back to him. His muscles felt alive, his brain was functioning, his heart was beating. Nothing was going to hold him back. He snarled, he flexed, he kicked, and then he tried to get away. With several kick sweeps of his legs, Max broke free, swimming away. He only made it a few paddles before he realized that the skin between his fingers had started to knit together, making his hands webbed. Max's pecs had filled out, his soft stomach had begun to develop into abs, and Max felt a light feathery flutter as his red hair sloughed off, drifting down to the sea floor so many thousands of feet below.

With Max no longer trying to swim away, Caleb came up behind him. Max wasn't just prey, he was a mate. Caleb slid an arm around his waist, holding onto his friend's stomach fondly. Max lingered, floating there a few dozen feet beneath the surface. He knew the launch was still up there, along with his human life... his former human life. Max realized that he had never felt quite so comfortable in his surroundings, so well fit to his own skin. Floating there was like being back in the womb or in zero gravity. Up, down, sideways, none of it mattered. The ocean was his, this body was his, even as it changed.

Max paddled a little with his webbed feet, turning around to face Caleb. Even as much as he had changed, as much as he had mutated and warped, Max still felt a connection to him. This was the man that had kept him safe, that had been with him on every mission, that had done the hard and thankless work that no one had forced him to do. Max reached out his webbed hand to rest it on Caleb's muzzle. He was quite handsome, even as a shark man. That strong, prominent jaw was just as defined as before.

Feeling a flutter of nervousness, Max leaned forward, pressing his lips to Caleb's. The shark man opened his mouth, a tongue batting at Max's until Max opened wider. The two embraced, their hands sliding across each other's bodies. Caleb felt Max's pecs as they filled out and thickened. His arms bulked out, his legs grew longer, and without the trap of pure gravity, Max's tailbone began to wriggle free of his pelvis, taking on a new angle as bone after bone filled in, pushing each segment apart as new ligaments and muscles wrapped around the interior.

Once more Caleb tried to get Max into a more amenable position, but this time he grabbed his legs and pulled them around his waist, giving him something to anchor onto. This time, Max didn't fight it. He felt the thick twin spires of shark meat rub against his ass cheeks before they found their mark and began to wriggle in. Max shuddered, clenching and unclenching before he felt the cocks push in, spreading him wide. Having so much water made it easier to slide back and forth, but Caleb was wasting no time.

With gentle swaying motions of his huge tail, Caleb amplified his thrusts back and forth in Max's ass, sliding deeper and faster, picking up speed. Max's eyes would have rolled into the back of his head, but as the black spilled out from his irises to dominate the rest, it was hard to tell. Webbed hands grabbed onto Caleb's shoulders and Max's tail flicked, making their bodies crash together as they thrust, and yanking them further apart when they split.

The two tumbled and twisted in the water, caring for nothing more than the breeding itself. Caleb felt Max get taller, wider, heavier and thicker. He watched his face push out, squaring off on the cheeks, his nose broadening and melding into the rest of his face as it formed into a muzzle. He pet the back of Max's head as he grew fin. Before long they were two huge beasts, locking in mating... but it wasn't quite done, not yet.

Max felt Caleb's huge hand snake around his waist, finding his achingly hard cock. Caleb wrapped his fingers around it tight, giving it a good squeeze as he started to pump it. Max had warmed up, but it had been a rough start to their copulation. Having that huge hand helped things along as he got harder, hornier and fuller. He groaned and grunted, the sound escaping his lips as bubbles as he felt his cock ahe and burn and sting. It felt almost like clay that was being molded by the hands of a master.

Caleb worked the rod furiously, slamming his fist against Max's groin and then flinging it out, tugging so hard he was sure he'd added an extra inch or two onto Max's rod until, finally, he felt the tremble of the flesh, the pliability, the malleability, and then the distinctive tearing as the one cock became two. Max's back arched, his neck craned, and a thick cloud of milky, salty, potent shark cum sprayed out of both cocks.

The hormone filled cloud got into Caleb's gills, filling him with the urge, the need, the inescapable desire to breed. He slammed into Max's ass harder, faster, and as deep as he could go. His groin slammed into his partner's ass, Max's tail tickled his webbed feet, their bodies moved in perfect unison until Caleb felt his lust turn into an unstoppable flow. The larger shark slammed as tight as he could into Max as he began to release, but even so some of his thick sperm managed to get out, mixing into the potent cloud of masculinity that surrounded them both.

The burning fever of the change began to fade, but the afterglow of a successful mating remained. Max no longer harbored any fear or doubt in his heart. All he knew was that he was being held by the perfect mate, by the only person he'd ever want to be held by. Caleb felt Max's hide against his own skin, the slight flutters of his partner's tail and fins. It felt right and pure. They had found their new home and the possibilities were endless.

**** The setting sun glittered across the ocean, the blue trailing off to shades of salmon, orange and violet. The clouds were sparse but there was a marine layer just thick enough to scatter the light. The surface of the ocean carried the colors, looking like a vast mesmerizing painting. The water was placid and calm, but a jet boat was cutting through it like butter, bobbing along the surface with a wake behind it.

The vessel was purple for the most part, though a large UEO emblem was emblazoned on the hull. The craft was being driven by an officer in a black uniform with a red collar, his name tag listing him as a Lieutenant Hernandez. His black hair was slicked back and he had a short, well groomed mustache. Sitting by him was a taller, thinner man with gold tones to his skin and shorter black hair, his nametag reading Commander Shan.

The boat engine went quiet as they sidled up alongside the launch. The commander pulled out two lines and secured them to clips on the hull of the launch to keep them from drifting apart while the Lieutenant made his way over to the partially submerged docking collar. He shook his head as he assessed the situation, but then his eyes were drawn to the top of the craft where the survival raft had been ejected.

"Sir, if we go in through the airlock, we could flood the compartment, but there's an access hatch under the survival raft. That could be our best way in." Hernandez offered. The commander gave a nod and a grin and climbed over onto the launch, grabbing hand holds to climb up to the top. As his eyes came level with the top, he saw the panel had already been opened. With some effort, he got it open and peered down into the launch.

"This is Commander Shan of the UEO, we're here to help you." He called into the launch as he got closer, bracing his foot on the recessed portion of hull where the raft had been. With no response, he looked over at Hernandez before giving a nod. With a swift movement, he dropped down into the launch and took stock. No pilot, no passenger. He turned around and saw the survival kit had been opened. "It's clear!" Shan called out. The Lieutenant dropped down through the hatch next, doing a visual assessment of his own.

"Where is he?" Hernandez asked, looking worried.

"He made it back here to open the survival gear, but no one was in the raft." Shan murmured. Hernandez's face softened even more.

"If something happened while he was trying to set up power..." Hernandez murmured.

"Call in a search of the immediate area, there's a chance he just got swept away." Shan ordered. Hernandez nodded, pulling out his Audio Link. He started to relay the order at once, calling in for a search pattern around the launch. Shan half listened to Hernandez but he also started to move toward the front of the launch, glancing out of the window of the airlock, seeing a few pieces of debris latched onto the hull. When he made it to the front, Shan reached to lean against the passenger seat when his hand felt something rough and irregular. He glanced down, spotting a small computer interface resting there.

"What is that?" Hernandez asked, climbing his way toward the front. Shan looked at the interface with curiosity before he lifted it up, examining it more closely.

"I think it's our first clue." he replied.